


love is a laserquest

by macdennies



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dennis is a Bastard Man, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, dennis is in denial, let dennis have feelings 2019, mac Knows, s14e10: Waiting For Big Mo, the ending we deserved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 21:40:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21515830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/macdennies/pseuds/macdennies
Summary: Charlie goes out to fight with Dee, leaving Mac and Dennis alone to guard the base. Laser tag and serious conversations ensue.
Relationships: Mac McDonald/Dennis Reynolds
Comments: 10
Kudos: 178





	love is a laserquest

**Author's Note:**

> sorry if this seems rushed, I wrote it in a frenzy after the finale aired and just now edited it. it's what we deserve.

Charlie was babbling about some bullshit, as usual. Some “ _having fun”_ bullshit, some sort of childish fantasy where 40-year-old men get to just _have fun_ and not face real life responsibilities like winning a goddamn laser tag game. It infuriated Dennis, and he was nearly at his limit. His mind was set on one thing, and one thing only: _Winning the game_.

A robotic, monotone voice echoed over the speaker system: “ _Warning.”_

 _Oh, shit._ Dennis readied his laser gun, guarding the entrance to his right while Charlie took the left side. This could be it, this could be their chance to-

“ _Dennis_ , they got us!” Dee shrieked as she came stumbling into the Green Base, holding her stomach like she had been shot.

Mac followed closely behind, looking haggard as all hell. He looked like he had just crawled out of the trenches, the sweat on his forehead reflecting the green light that shone above them.

“I- I tried to stop them, but-” Mac was panting, and he sat down on the bench beneath the neon _Green Team_ sign.

Dennis could physically feel the last straw holding his sanity together snap. He whipped around to look at the scoreboard, and-

“We’re _losing?!”_ Dennis all-but screamed, turning back around to give Mac an incredulous look. “How the _fuck_ did you manage to screw up that bad?”

Mac seemed to be taken aback by Dennis’ sudden change in tone. “Well, I- You see, _Dee_ was-”

“I didn't do shit!” Dee said immediately in her own defense. “Mac was off flirting with one of the dads, and a whole swarm of those little goblin children came out of nowhere!”

“You were _flirting_ with one of the _dads_?” Dennis repeated, throwing his hands up in the air. “Do you even _care_ about this team?”

“O- Of course I do, Dennis, it's just that-”

“You know what?” Dennis’s arms dropped to his sides and he shook his head. “It's fine.” He turned to Charlie, then to Dee. “It's _fine_.” 

Dee stepped forward from beside Charlie. “We can go back into the air ducts, get back on the leaderboards, right?” She tried to reason with Dennis.

Dennis wasn't having any of it. “No, Dee, _Mac_ isn't going anywhere.” He turned to Charlie. “You want to _have fun_ , right Charlie?”

Charlie stood, wide-eyed, like he was caught watching his parents fight. “I- I mean, _yeah_ -”

“Great.” Dennis put on a smile. “Then _you_ go back out there with Dee, shoot some kids for us, and get us back on that leaderboard.”

A grin spread across Charlie’s face. “I get to _fight_?” He asked giddily.

Dennis nodded. “Go full-on berserker, buddy.”

Charlie exchanged a look of pure excitement with Dee and held his laser gun with a newfound energy. He nodded for Dee to follow as he ran out the left entrance of the base, his footsteps echoing down the hall.

Mac sat on the bench, looking to Dennis for instruction. “What am _I_ gonna do?” He asked, giving Dennis possibly _the_ saddest puppy dog eyes he had ever seen in his life.

Dennis tried not to let his heart melt.

“You're gonna guard the base,” Dennis sighed. “With me.”

Mac didn't seem to _get_ it. He was always on the offensive when the gang played laser tag, and he was _usually_ good at it. He seemed like a fish out of water- Dennis almost felt bad.

“Listen,” Dennis sat next to him on the bench. “I'm not _mad_ at you, per se, I just…” He glanced over to meet Mac’s eyes. _Fuck_. “I _really_ want to win this, okay?”

Mac was still giving him that _look_. That desperate need for constant approval, that sort of pathetic clinginess that only Dennis could satisfy. It was off-putting, sometimes, but lately Dennis had started to grow fond of it. Mac never gave anyone _else_ that look, after all.

“Sorry for flirting with one of the dads.” Mac lowered his gaze to his laser gun, fiddling with the strap.

Dennis scoffed and shook his head. “I don't have a _problem_ with it.” He said. “It’s just that we’re, _y’know_ , losing the game now.”

Mac let out a small breath and leaned back against the wall. “I just know that sometimes, you get a little...” He gestured with his hands, leaving the sentence at that.

Dennis furrowed his brows at Mac. “I ‘ _get a little’_ what?” He probed, needing Mac to elaborate. “Angry? Irritated? Frust-”

“ _Jealous_.” Mac cut him off, meeting his eyes. “You get _jealous_ sometimes.”

“ _Jealous?_ ” Dennis almost laughed at how preposterous of a notion that was. “ _Me?_ _Jealous?”_ He stood from the bench, facing Mac. “What do I have to be _jealous_ of? Your _receding_ hairline _?_ Your _glamor_ muscles? Your pathetic attempts to hide the fact that-”

“Not of _me_ ,” Mac cut Dennis off, thankfully, before Dennis put his foot directly in his mouth. “Jealous of, like, the guys I talk to.”

“Why would I be-” Dennis laughed as he lost a little bit of his mind. “I mean, the _guys_ you talk to? Are you _hearing_ yourself right now?”

Mac bit the inside of his cheek and shrugged. “You get mad whenever I mention having feelings for someone _else_ , I just figured-”

“Well _don’t_ ‘just figure’!” Dennis huffed and turned his back on Mac. The walls felt like they were closing in on him, and he tried to steady his breathing.

“You know I only… _Really_ have feelings for you.” Mac said from behind him. Dennis felt his stomach lurch. He might be sick.

“Don't say that shit.” Dennis managed to choke out. 

“It's okay if you get jealous sometimes, I mean, I think it's sweet that you care-”

“I _don't_ care!” Dennis turned around, tears pooling in his eyes. He wanted it all to fucking _go away_ . He was stuck there with Mac having a conversation he _never_ wanted to have.

“But it's okay if you _do-”_

“I _don't_!” Dennis shouted. “I don't give a _fuck_ who you bang, I don't _care_ , I _never_ cared!” He felt a lump in his throat rise, and his hands might've been shaking. “You could go move in with the _love of your fucking life_ and never _speak_ to me again, you think I'd fucking _care_?!”

Mac didn't seem phased by Dennis’ reaction. He looked up at Dennis with an expectant look, as if he knew this would happen all along.

“Dennis, it's _fine._ ” Mac said gently. “Maybe you're right, maybe I've had you pegged the wrong way.”

Dennis felt the white hot heat in his chest die down a little, but he continued to glare at Mac like he could rip his throat out. He hated what Mac was saying. He hated the fucking pity, the _knowing_ look that Mac was giving him.

“I don't want to talk about this.” Dennis said conclusively, letting out a heavy breath. “We just need to focus on guarding the base.”

Mac set his laser gun down beside him. “What if we… _Didn't_?”

Dennis screwed up his face, giving Mac a look like he was clinically insane. “What the _fuck_ does that mean?”

“I think it'll be fine if we just sit here.” Mac said nonchalantly. “Everyone’s out fighting each other anyways.”

Dennis looked between the two entrances of the Green Base. No footsteps, no signs of movement, no robotic voice announcing a warning.

“That’s just- that’s _stupid_ , Mac, we’d be vulnerable, we can't just leave the base unguarded-”

“I did,” Mac shrugged, looking up at Dennis. “I do it all the time. That's like, _my thing_.”

Dennis shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts from wherever they were steering off to. They were talking about laser tag. Nothing else.

“Well, that's not _my_ thing, _so…_ ” He tightened his grip on his gun and took a deep breath.

“Maybe you just need to loosen up a little bit, you know?” Mac sat up on the bench, and Dennis could feel his eyes on him. “If you'd just let your guard down, like, a _tiny_ bit, you might have more fun.”

Dennis scoffed. “You sound like Charlie.” He said. “It's not about _having fun_ , Mac, it's about winning the game.”

“Winning for _what_?” Mac continued. “So you can keep pretending you're something you're not?”

Dennis felt his stomach turn over and he clenched his jaw, standing still where he was. “I have no idea what you're talking about.” Dennis lied.

“You do, though.” Mac’s voice was too soft, too gentle around Dennis. He hated it. “We’ve been playing this game for what, _twenty-something_ years now?”

A ghost of a smile pulled at Dennis’ lips. “Yeah, something like that.” He said quietly.

Mac stood from the bench, taking a step in Dennis’ direction. “Maybe…” He took another step. “Maybe it’ll be okay if we lose this time.”

Mac was close, now, close enough that Dennis could see the light radiating from the LEDs on Mac’s padded armor. Close enough that, if Dennis wanted, he could embrace Mac right then and there.

Dennis swallowed hard and shook his head slightly. “I can't.” He said, barely above a whisper.

“You don't have to,” Mac placed a gentle hand on Dennis’ arm. Dennis felt the heat of his hand seep through his shirt, and he shut his eyes to stop any tears from forming.

“ _Hey_ , look at me, okay?” Mac said quietly. Dennis took a deep breath and tentatively met Mac’s gaze. " _You don't have to."_

Dennis felt his breath hitch as he looked at Mac, who stared back at him with nothing but understanding and acceptance in his eyes. Of _course_ Mac would get it. That's what scared Dennis the most. He couldn't hide from Mac. He had spent over half of his life with him, they had been through thick and thin together, and even then…

Dennis’s laser gun dropped from his hands, dangling by the strap it was attached to, and Dennis moved in to cup Mac’s face in his hands like he had done so many times before. Within a fraction of a second, without thinking, Dennis was kissing him, their helmets hitting together as Dennis tilted his head and squeezed his eyes shut.

It was like nothing else in the world had ever mattered. Like the hole in Dennis’ chest was finally full, like twenty-something years of bullshit had led Dennis to that very moment, to kissing his best friend in a laser tag base, green and blue behind his eyelids as he became putty in Mac’s hands.

Mac took a deep breath in through his nose and tightened his grip on Dennis’ arm as if it would stop him from running away. Dennis only deepened the kiss, snaking his hands around the back of Mac’s neck and coming his fingers into his hair. Too late to back out now.

Surprisingly, Mac was the one to break the kiss. He leaned his helmet against Dennis’, the _clack_ of the plastic making them both giggle.

“I've wanted to do that for like, twenty years.” Mac said, barely a whisper.

Dennis smiled. “I guess I have, too.”

Mac simply held his gaze, a whimsical, far-off look on his face. Save for the goofy laser tag getup, Mac had never looked so beautiful to Dennis. His doe-eyed stare, the way his tongue flicked out over his lower lip like he could still feel Dennis’ mouth on his. Everything was all _Mac_. Everything.

Knowing that Mac wasn't going to- _and probably wouldn't for quite some time_ \- initiate another kiss, Dennis tilted Mac’s head up and reunited their lips once again. Mac tasted like strawberries and beer, and Dennis could live in it.

So caught in the moment and wrapped up in the feeling of Mac’s lips on his, Dennis hadn't noticed the footsteps echoing down the hall, nearing their base. The electronic _pew-pew_ of laser guns snapped Mac and Dennis out of their moment, and they both whipped around to find a group of three little goblin children firing at them and their base’s center. The _one_ thing they were supposed to be guarding.

Dennis didn't really fight back, though. He could've shot at them, since the kids were blatantly standing in the entrance to their base, completely unguarded, but he didn't really see a point to any of it anymore. Maybe _that_ was what Mac meant.

Mac and Dennis exchanged a glance, Mac clearly holding back laughter as the three kids scampered off down the hallway.

“Guess we lost.” Mac couldn't stop himself from grinning. _That asshole_.

Dennis smiled, too, and unbuckled his helmet. “Doesn't really feel like it.” He admitted. And, for the first time, Dennis didn't care about the electronic sounds of their team dropping off the leaderboard.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!!! I should have some new stuff up soon, but comments and kudos keep me going!!! :^)


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